This Boulder…

THIS BOULDER WAS BROUGHT HERE FROM NORWAY WHERE IT WAS WORN AND SHAPED FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS BY FORCES OF NATURE FROST, RUNNING WATER, ROCK, SAND AND ICE UNTIL IT OBTAINED ITS PRESENT SHAPE

This quotation is from a large boulder that sits at the west end of Princes Street Gardens in central Edinburgh.  Sitting in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle it appears, at first, more than a little incongruous.  Edinburgh, renowned for her architecture, doesn’t seem like the kind of place where you would find a large boulder sitting an a well-manicured garden.  And yet there it sits and seems quite at home.

The inscription reminds us that, even although the hustle and bustle of city-life persists all around us and feels, in many ways, as though it always has, there is an ancient geologic time that dwarves the daily lives of the city inhabitants.  This boulder has withstood the elements and now it stands as a testament to tenacity.

Whenever I walk past this feature in the garden, I can’t help but touch it.  To know that the shapes and textures beneath my touch have formed over millenia by ice, wind, water is truly awe-inspiring.  It’s an incredible tactile experience to run the palms of your hand across its surface, to dance your fingertips around the engraved text, to lean against its shape and sense its presence, its permanence.

This boulder was brought here as a symbol of the connection and fraternity that exists between Scotland and Norway, and yet, for me, it symbolises the loss of connection between urban civilization and our planet’s ancient past.  I wonder how many stride through the gardens on their way from the car park to the shops and never even notice this boulder…